A passionate examination of the social and economic injustices that continue to shackle the American people

Praise for Workin’ on the Chain Gang:

“. . . bracing and provocative. . . .”

—Publishers Weekly

“. . . clear-sighted . . . Mosley offers chain-breaking ideas. . . .”

—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“[A] thoroughly potent dismantling of Yanqui capitalism, the media, and the entertainment business, and at the same time a celebration of rebellion, truth as a tool for emancipation, and much else besides. . . .”

—Toronto Globe and Mail

“Workin’ on the Chain Gang excels at expressing feelings of ennui that transcend race. . . . beautiful language and penetrating insights into the necessity of confronting the past.”

Walter Mosley’s most recent essay collection is Life Out of Context, published in 2006. He is the best-selling author of the science fiction novel Blue Light, five critically acclaimed mysteries featuring Easy Rawlins, the blues novel RL’s Dream, a finalist for the NAACP Award in Fiction, and winner of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s Literary Award. His books have been translated into twenty languages. He lives in New York.

Clyde Taylor is Professor of Africana Studies at NYU’s Gallatin School and author of The Mask of Art: Breaking the Aesthetic Contract—Film and Literature.

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Review:

Acclaimed novelist Walter Mosley spins a different yarn in Workin' on the Chain Gang, imploring citizens to solve the social, economic, racial, and political crimes of late-20th-century civilization. Mosley takes aim at the average American's feelings of disempowerment and--while he is quick to point out the role race plays--he also states: "The problem facing Americans today does not originate from racial conflict. The problem is the enslavement of a whole nation to the rather small and insignificant goals of the few who own (or control) almost everything." Mosley covers a lot of ground--from Plato's Republic to his own bid for the presidency--but through it all, his faith rests in the individual to change the world through changing his or her own world; he cites as an example his creative powers as a writer to turn fiction into reality. Mosley calls for us to "recognize some of the restraints placed on us by the organization of labor and popular culture, then to see, from a calm place, that there might be a world in our hearts that we would like to realize, first by speaking out, then by shouting out, and finally by action." --Eugene Holley Jr.

From the Inside Flap:

Slavery was outlawed in this country more than a century ago, but Americans still wear chains. Each one of us, black and white alike, is shackled by a system that values money over humanity, power over truth, conformity over creativity. Race has undeniably made the problem worse, but race is not the root of the problem. Indeed, as black novelist and activist Walter Mosley brilliantly argues in this impassioned call to arms, though the chains might be more recognizable in the lives of blacks, the same chains restrain us all. Only when we understand this truth can we begin?black and white together?to cast off the shackles.

Far from being a cause for celebration, the millennium, Mosley argues fiercely, should be the occasion for a frank reckoning with the real state of our society. We have the power to end starvation, but one-third of our children live in poverty. Our politics have degenerated into a multimillion-dollar game show ruled by two indistinguishable monopolies. We drug ourselves with television, sports, sex, apathy, and obsession with celebrity, while our cities rot and violence erupts in our schools.

Why is this happening? Because we have allowed ourselves to be made into property, owned and controlled by an economic system in which "value" means only profit. "Some of us are cogs in the economic machine," writes Mosley, "others are ghosts, but it is the machine, not race or gender or even nationality, that drives us."

But each one of us can work toward breaking off these chains. First by recognizing the truth of our history?a history that is crucially informed by the black experience. Second by beginning to free ourselves from the noise, the often shallow, diverting entertainments, and an all-consuming economic system. The nation and its potentials are ours to command, but only if we work, individually and collectively, to cast off the chains of yesterday's politics and seize the freedoms that the future holds.

Angry, original, and fearlessly honest, Workin' on the Chain Gang is a powerful examination of the American economic and political machine. No matter what your race, gender, politics, or beliefs, this is a book that will profoundly alter the way you think?and the way you act.

Book Description The University of Michigan Press, United States, 2006. Paperback. Book Condition: New. 198 x 132 mm. Language: English . Brand New Book. Though slavery was outlawed nearly a century and a half ago, all of us are still in figurative chains of one kind or another. Thus argues Walter Mosley in Workin on the Chain Gang , a passionate examination of the social and economic injustices that continue to shackle the American people. Each one of us, Mosley claims, is restrained by a system that values money over humanity, power over truth, and conformity over independent thinking. Yet even as Mosley paints a sobering vision of contemporary economic and political reality, he offers a plan to break the fetters of our oppression. First we must recognize that our history is deeply informed by the black experience. Then we must cast off the all-consuming accoutrements of an economic system that keeps us blind to our own and others humanity. Only then can we hope to achieve our true potential. Bookseller Inventory # AAN9780472031986

Book Description The University of Michigan Press, United States, 2006. Paperback. Book Condition: New. 198 x 132 mm. Language: English . Brand New Book. Though slavery was outlawed nearly a century and a half ago, all of us are still in figurative chains of one kind or another. Thus argues Walter Mosley in Workin on the Chain Gang , a passionate examination of the social and economic injustices that continue to shackle the American people. Each one of us, Mosley claims, is restrained by a system that values money over humanity, power over truth, and conformity over independent thinking. Yet even as Mosley paints a sobering vision of contemporary economic and political reality, he offers a plan to break the fetters of our oppression. First we must recognize that our history is deeply informed by the black experience. Then we must cast off the all-consuming accoutrements of an economic system that keeps us blind to our own and others humanity. Only then can we hope to achieve our true potential. Bookseller Inventory # AAN9780472031986

Book Description The University of Michigan Press. Paperback. Book Condition: new. BRAND NEW, Workin' on the Chain Gang: Shaking Off the Dead Hand of History, Walter Mosley, Though slavery was outlawed nearly a century and a half ago, all of us are still in figurative chains of one kind or another. Thus argues Walter Mosley in "Workin' on the Chain Gang", a passionate examination of the social and economic injustices that continue to shackle the American people. Each one of us, Mosley claims, is restrained by a system that values money over humanity, power over truth, and conformity over independent thinking. Yet even as Mosley paints a sobering vision of contemporary economic and political reality, he offers a plan to break the fetters of our oppression. First we must recognize that our history is deeply informed by the black experience. Then we must cast off the all-consuming accoutrements of an economic system that keeps us blind to our own and others' humanity. Only then can we hope to achieve our true potential. Bookseller Inventory # B9780472031986

Book Description 2006. Paperback. Book Condition: New. 135mm x 9mm x 203mm. Paperback. A passionate examination of the social and economic injustices that continue to shackle the American people Praise for "Workin' on the Chain Gang: " ." . . bracing and .Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. 118 pages. 0.154. Bookseller Inventory # 9780472031986

Book Description University of Michigan Press, 2006. Book Condition: New. Argues that though slavery was outlawed, all of us are in figurative chains of one kind or another. This work examines the social and economic injustices that shackle the American people. Each one of us, is restrained by a system that values money over humanity, power over truth, and conformity over independent thinking. Series: Class: Culture. Num Pages: 128 pages. BIC Classification: 1KBB; JFFJ; JFSL3. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 203 x 133 x 9. Weight in Grams: 154. . 2006. Paperback. . . . . . Bookseller Inventory # V9780472031986